The present invention relates generally to the sorting of bulk quantities of articles labeled for various destinations and, more particularly, to the sorting of mail by zip code into segregated groups complying with postal regulations to qualify the group for bulk postal rates.
Bulk mailing of magazines, newspapers, advertisements, etc. has economic benefits. Specifically, the postal service allows preferential treatment to bulk mail if certain regulations are complied with, namely, regarding the size and numbers of articles in a group.
Systems have been developed and are in use in which the bulk mail articles are segregated by zip code of the party to whom the article is mailed. The groups of like zip codes are stacked and bound together in a bundle or bundles to be delivered to a postal distribution center in the particular zip code area.
One particular regulation of the postal service concerns the quantity of articles in a bundle directed to any one zip code area. The regulation imposes a minimum and maximum on the number of articles in the bundle. Present systems sense and segregate the quantity of articles for each zip code area to comply with bundle sizes, i.e., minimum and maximum. Further, such systems direct all zip code groups of less than minimum quantity out of the main stream of articles for special handling. The special handling consists of manual manipulation of the articles such as stacking, etc.
Depending on the particular user, presently known systems may be perfectly acceptable. For example, if the user has large quantities of articles to all zip codes, such user does not very often encounter zip code groups of articles below the minimums set by the postal service regulations. Accordingly, relatively few groups are diverted out of the main stream and the extra cost involved for special handling of the diverted group is absorbed relatively easily.
The state of the art is not completely satisfactory for the user who has a large quantity of zip code groups of a number less than the minimum. For such a user, the quantities of articles diverted out of the main stream and requiring manual handling is excessive.